Posted on 09/17/2005 7:42:34 AM PDT by Wombat101
Louisiana Officials Indicted Before Katrina Hit
Federal audits found dubious expenditures by the state's emergency preparedness agency, which will administer FEMA hurricane aid.
WASHINGTON Senior officials in Louisiana's emergency planning agency already were awaiting trial over allegations stemming from a federal investigation into waste, mismanagement and missing funds when Hurricane Katrina struck. And federal auditors are still trying to track as much as $60 million in unaccounted for funds that were funneled to the state from the Federal Emergency Management Agency dating back to 1998. In March, FEMA demanded that Louisiana repay $30.4 million to the federal government.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
I heard on Hannity yesterday that Landrieu was given the chance on Thursday to take back her "threat" of harm to the POSTUS, and she not only didn't take it back....
she reinterated it...by saying that if ANY of the people in LA are blamed, she would STILL punch him!
Yeppers...we can see why she is so adamant about NOT wanting a congressional investigation....
I guess they saw how easy it was to influence the 9/11 Commission into doing their bidding...that moveon.org and the dems are convinced they would do it again...
BTW, did you hear that MOVEON.ORG has put out a commercial linking Bush's ineptness at 9/11 to his ineptness with Katrina...
I guess trying to set the scenario for an impeachment?
Only if they happen to end in a vowel and can trace their lineage to a certain pasta-eating,southern-European country.
Like me. LOL!
They have been trying to do that since January, 2001
And every time to back fires on them
the plot thickens ping.
He is in jail serving a 10 year sentence
Hope this doesn't include Buying out the "Slum Lords" who properties where held together by the termites.
I agree. Thats the way I read it as well. I'm shocked this was in the LA Times...
1998 --- let's see, WHO was POTUS then!
I saw Rep. Peter King on with Tony a little while ago...and Tony asked him if the Republicans are prepared to start the investigation, even if the dems still refuse to participate...
King seemed to indicate that they have no choice...he said that if this investigation will help them figure out better ways to approach disaster areas...that they don't have time to waste on petty politics...
I am thinking that Landrieu and the rest of the LA gov. officials are worried about more than petty politics...I think they are all worried about their jobs/power...possible freedom..
Hell, the plot throbeth.
Yelp....Not to mention the income and in some cases their lives.....Are we about to see some LA-cides? Dead people don't talk.
You mean William Jefferson, SLUM LORD? Who no doubt recieved much of his income from HUD.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/1486438/posts?page=6
You'll want to see this one....The truth comes out.
Let the hearings begin
"In December of 1995, the Orleans Levee Board, the local government entity that oversees the levees and floodgates designed to protect New Orleans and the surrounding areas from rising waters, bragged in a supplement to the Times-Picayune newspaper about federal money received to protect the region from hurricanes.
"In the past four years, the Orleans Levee Board has built up its arsenal. The additional defenses are so critical that Levee Commissioners marched into Congress and brought back almost $60 million to help pay for protection," the pamphlet declared. "The most ambitious flood-fighting plan in generations was drafted. An unprecedented $140 million building campaign launched 41 projects."
The levee board promised Times-Picayune readers that the "few manageable gaps" in the walls protecting the city from Mother Nature's waters "will be sealed within four years (1999) completing our circle of protection."
But less than a year later, that same levee board was denied the authority to refinance its debts. Legislative Auditor Dan Kyle "repeatedly faulted the Levee Board for the way it awards contracts, spends money and ignores public bid laws," according to the Times-Picayune. The newspaper quoted Kyle as saying that the board was near bankruptcy and should not be allowed to refinance any bonds, or issue new ones, until it submitted an acceptable plan to achieve solvency.
Blocked from financing the local portion of the flood fighting efforts, the levee board was unable to spend the federal matching funds that had been designated for the project.
By 1998, Louisiana's state government had a $2 billion construction budget, but less than one tenth of one percent of that -- $1.98 million -- was dedicated to levee improvements in the New Orleans area. State appropriators were able to find $22 million that year to renovate a new home for the Louisiana Supreme Court and $35 million for one phase of an expansion to the New Orleans convention center.
The following year, the state legislature did appropriate $49.5 million for levee improvements, but the proposed spending had to be allocated by the State Bond Commission before the projects could receive financing. The commission placed the levee improvements in the "Priority 5" category, among the projects least likely to receive full or immediate funding."
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewNation.asp?Page=%5CNation%5Carchive%5C200509%5CNAT20050907a.html
I been b_tching about the gov, mayor and all them since before the storm. I'm waiting for Landrieu to come punch me.
Perhaps the corruption of LA politics will finally be dealt with and Long's legacy of graft ended.
Yes it does. She also gave the reason why she didn't want to federalize the effort. She said something to the effect that 'if it was turned over to the FEDs they would blame us if it went wrong'.
That statement didn't make much sense at the time. But it does now.
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